Best Addition to Downtown St. Louis 2010 - Culinaria

Downtown dwellers had to wait so long for an honest-to-goodness grocery store that you would forgive them for embracing anything that sold milk, eggs, bread and beer. Luckily for them, Schnucks went several steps beyond the essentials with Culinaria. The prepared-foods section alone offers such a broad, inviting selection that you might never fire up the state-of-the-art range in your loft, and once you espy the attractive seating area on the mezzanine level by the wine racks, you might not bother to wait until you're home to eat. Go a little deeper into the store, though, and you'll find everything you need to prepare a fine meal or a simple snack at home: several aisles' worth of dry, canned and frozen goods as well as displays of produce, meat and seafood. You're also likely to encounter more than a few downtown workers on their lunch breaks. Be nice to them. If downtown welcomes more amenities like Culinaria, they might be convinced to become your neighbors someday.